Than you members of IV for all your hard efforts. I am sorry that I could not make it to the advocacy event. However, called all the 4 Reps from NJ and requested them to cosponsor the bill. Also passed on the message to some friends and urged them to call as well.

Thanks for being with us in this effort. Your persistence in calling your representative's local offices is very important in maintaining continuity to our efforts at DC. We had a very productive 2 day session at the congress, very warm reception and response and more than 90% offices agree with us. Their only request is, that they want to hear from their constituents. We had several states like FL, CA, NH from where we had no members attending this event. Some of us represented IV as this is a national problem, and even those offices gave us 30-45 mins and heard our requests and have not slammed the doors on us (as some people uses to scare away real fighters). I am reiterating again- they want to hear from their constituents- and they are you. Call every day, until they cosponsor the bill. I heard from one house member that one guy (who didn't even attend event and no one in IV knows him) represents IV and calls the representative's office every day (since last May) regarding the bill, and that representative is very eager to put her name on the list.

Thanks for being with us in this effort. Your persistence in calling your representative's local offices is very important in maintaining continuity to our efforts at DC. We had a very productive 2 day session at the congress, very warm reception and response and more than 90% offices agree with us. Their only request is, that they want to hear from their constituents. We had several states like FL, CA, NH from where we had no members attending this event. Some of us represented IV as this is a national problem, and even those offices gave us 30-45 mins and heard our requests and have not slammed the doors on us (as some people uses to scare away real fighters). I am reiterating again- they want to hear from their constituents- and they are you. Call every day, until they cosponsor the bill. I heard from one house member that one guy (who didn't even attend event and no one in IV knows him) represents IV and calls the representative's office every day (since last May) regarding the bill, and that representative is very eager to put her name on the list.

So my friends, please please keep calling, until they say YES.

Hum honge kaamyab ekdin! We shall overcome someday (very soon!)

It was an honor fighting the good fight by your side. There is no doubt in my mind that we will win this fight.

But people need to followup. This game is all about the followup.

We need the people in the districts to call in and say immigration voice is your voice - and HR.213 will be hugely beneficial for people in their states.

Thank you for coming. It was an honor fighting beside you and getting to know you as a human being.

Last edited by The Alchemist; 06-18-2015 at 02:38 PM.
Reason: corrected bill #

I wanted to share my own experiences about the advocacy and even though it sounds like a broken record and pretty much having similar experiences as others it does mean a lot to me as I am one of those guy who doesn't get too excited about something very easily. I am not the one who would over analyze any issue or take a day off to hit refresh button just to see when the announcement comes out, I am more laid back and skeptical at first kind of guy.

I do understand like me, many of you might have had certain perceptions on how things happen, how things work in DC, how you might be treated at IV events, what are you going to say at congress man's or senator's office, would IV core start slamming at me if I make a mistake and this are all valid reasons that you might have thought and avoided participating in IV events and believe me I know this because I have always somehow convinced myself to avoid participating. Not sure at what moment I decided to register, most likely I had few too many drinks that day but once I hit the button I am going that commitment for me takes precedence over any other fear so I gathered the courage up (don't go by looks those who know me but I am a wuss usually) and hit the road. I understand there are many who can't do so but are genuinely interested in supporting the cause and the organization, for them there are plenty of ways to show the support other then going to IV events, so please look into using those opportunity to be a part of something that you believe in.

Last few days with IV seemed to me as the best decision I had made, yes there was a lot of work to be done but with so much energy and encouragement things just came naturally. Each and everyone was so helpful including the leadership and some of the things that I had perceived were all shattered and I felt so glad to be wrong. Even though I had been waiting for 12 years the stories I heard from others make mine nothing compared to what issue a lot of us are facing. I learned a lot about the process, what I also learned is action item that are asked is very carefully thought out and planned and if you were thinking by constantly repeating the message Hildingur (hil3182) is trying to torture you then let me say it that's not the case, there is a well thought out reason and a plan to do that, even if it is as simple as hitting a like button on Facebook post, so please follow it you would be glad that you did. I was fortunate to meet a lot of great people who are selflessly fighting for our cause and lot of them don't even face the problems anymore, but they still believe in the cause so they are spending their time and energy for those thousands who don't even know this organization exists.

In the end all I wanted to say I am very proud to be part of such fantastic organization and a special thanks to all those who made this experience happen. Thanks IV

Thanks for being with us in this effort. Your persistence in calling your representative's local offices is very important in maintaining continuity to our efforts at DC. We had a very productive 2 day session at the congress, very warm reception and response and more than 90% offices agree with us. Their only request is, that they want to hear from their constituents. We had several states like FL, CA, NH from where we had no members attending this event. Some of us represented IV as this is a national problem, and even those offices gave us 30-45 mins and heard our requests and have not slammed the doors on us (as some people uses to scare away real fighters). I am reiterating again- they want to hear from their constituents- and they are you. Call every day, until they cosponsor the bill. I heard from one house member that one guy (who didn't even attend event and no one in IV knows him) represents IV and calls the representative's office every day (since last May) regarding the bill, and that representative is very eager to put her name on the list.

So my friends, please please keep calling, until they say YES.

Hum honge kaamyab ekdin! We shall overcome someday (very soon!)

I sincerely believe Hum honge kaamyab. And that is the reason my user name is "VShallOverCome"

I and my spouse have called the offices of the reps in my state and have also approached many friends in various states asking them to call the representatives of their states. To my surprise quite a few of my acquaintances are not familiar with IV and are not aware of H.R. 213, so trying to make them aware of these.
I have also lived in a couple other states at some point in time and so am going to call all the reps in our list from those two states. Some times the staff members ask for our postal address and I do not want it to look phoney so avoid calling states where I have never lived. By that token, many people have moved from one state to another and can call the reps of at least all those states where they live or have lived at some point in time.

And I sincerely want to say - I cannot thank IV team enough for whatever they are doing for all of us.